All was ready when the last chime came upon the ear.
They told Hugh this, and asked if he had anything to say.
'To say!' he cried.

'Not I.I'm ready .-- Yes,' he added, as his eye fell upon Barnaby, 'I have a word to say, too.

Come hither, lad.' There was, for the moment, something kind, and even tender, struggling in his fierce aspect, as he wrung his poor companion by the hand.
'I'll say this,' he cried, looking firmly round, 'that if I had ten lives to lose, and the loss of each would give me ten times the agony of the hardest death, I'd lay them all down--ay, I would, though you gentlemen may not believe it--to save this one.

This one,' he added, wringing his hand again, 'that will be lost through me.' 'Not through you,' said the idiot, mildly.

'Don't say that.